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Kathmandu was key to First NZ Capital taking out the top spot in the 2013 Broker Picks competition.

Returns for the outdoor clothing retailer were up 80.8 per cent during the year to December 13, when the annual competition was closed off.

Kathmandu was the second best performing company on the NZX over the year, lagging behind only accountancy software firm Xero which none of the brokers picked.

Retirement village operator Summerset also proved a good pick for First NZ up 45.5 per cent, although Diligent, which has struggled with corporate governance issues, pulled the result down with its -25.5 per cent performance.

First NZ, Craigs Investment Partners and Forsyth Barr all managed to beat the NZX50 index which was up 18.54 per cent during the period.

Craigs and Forsyth Barr were both boosted by their choice of Ryman Healthcare which grew 79.5 per cent while Craigs also benefited from choosing Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, up 60.9 per cent.

Hamilton Hindin Greene's performance was dragged to the bottom by it picking telecommunications company Chorus. Chorus was down 32.4 per cent over the year and has been the worst performing stock in the NZX50 index over issues to do with charges for the use of its copper network and whether it is in financial position to build the Government's ultrafast broadband network.

It also suffered after picking insurer Tower which was down 2.7 per cent. McDouall Stuart also had Tower in its top five as well as Diligent.